Help needed: ideas for low cost, basic, off-the-grid outdoor shower

[bicycle]

Hello everyone,

I have done a search on this topic on the forums but could not find anything.

We are getting are small piece of land with a small wooden cabin on it where we are going to experiment with several things.
One of the things would be building a basic outdoor shower.
Neither of us have made one of these before and most of the things that are on internet require on-grid water system,radiator heating blocks or other things that cost money.

I am basicly lookking for some kind of system of putting the water in some kind of water tank.
This connected to some kind of hose where you can regulate the waterflow so the water will not drop out all at once.
Then some kind of ideas or systems to re-use the water what you have used to wash yourself.
I think that if you use bio soap you could make use the water again for your plants etc?

Does any of you have experience making these kind of showers and have any ideas, tips, photos or stories.

Anything would be more then welcome!

 

[Kim Chee]

Hello everyone,
Then some kind of ideas or systems to re-use the water what you have used to wash yourself.
I think that if you use bio soap you could make use the water again for your plants etc?

Any crusticles that you wash off will definitely make soil sterile.

Haven't done it, might want to try this:
If you take a water heater and cut it open you can burn some wood inside. Have the water heater standing on some blocks to make it a couple of feet higher,
don't let it topple! Place a small tank (5 gal bucket) on top of the water heater (or higher if you can get it that way). Place a layer of brick under the bucket as
the top of the water heater is going to get very hot. You may have to do some cutting or soldering depending how sophisticated of a system you want to
manufacture. May even get away with using some sealant to get it all connected. You can figure out your valve system (even a pinched hose will work) after
you get all this done. Put a little tinder and a few small pieces of wood inside of your water heater and light. Wait a little while for the inside to get toasty. Gravity
should provide a nice slow stream of water that you can get the funk off with. If you do
not get enough pressure, raise the tank.

tip: Showers are best done with a friend.

 

[KatAttack]

I recently saw a portable shower. Basically fill the bag with 5 gallons of water, let it sit in the sun for 2-3 hours, and bam! you've got yourself about 4 showers.
Just need a lot of water handy, so not the best for on the road but good for simply going off the grid.
Only about 10 bucks.

 

[dprogram]

I was thinking like mmmmmmmichael was. After reading the question I was thinking about a 55 gal drum that could collect rain water. Have it connected to the downspout off a roof to fill it and raised off the ground so you start a fire underneath. If you had an old cast iron stove it would work great just sitting on top the stove if you wanted it inside. Or maybe make one 55 gal drum a stove...stack another on top to hold the water.

This made me interested so I searched www.motherearthnews.com and found this page...really good idea on solar hot water http://greenpowerscience.com/WATER1.pdf Good luck!

 

[outskirts]

In my hometown they have a brush/mulch dump. Every year a massive hill of wood chip mulch takes form and builds up heat.
a good portion of it is created from shredded Christmas trees. This house sized hill gives off a lot of heat, you can often see the steam
rising from it. It gets so hot that I've buried plastic containers full of coffee in it while out in the woods beyond squirrel hunting, would return
hours later and my coffee would still be extremely hot.

I've wondered if such a heat source could be utilized for a backwoods shower. Maybe have a water tank buried in the middle of such
a house sized wood chip pile? I don't know, just a thought, hmmmm?

 

[nrht]

black 50 gal drums OR a wood frame with thick black plastic lined glass -- can heat water pretty well in the sun. I've also seen some battery and gas powered water heaters that are fairly inexpensive. (http://www.ecotankless.com -- don't know much about these specifically, but have heard some good things. though a quick browsing shows they may be expensive in some cases).. You can attach some pipe with a valve and shower head at the bottom of the drum and use gravity for the flow of water. I've also seen some cool hand pump showers (and even people using bug spray backpacks as showers) for something small scale. I've heard about (not much though) compost heated showers, which could be pretty useful.

Anyway, just browse youtube.. I just found these videos in no time.





Hopefully, some of this sparks an idea for you.

 

[JoelRailDude]

They sell a Coleman Shower bag for 5$, its black you fill it with 5 gal, leave it in sun, And has its own shower head thingy.

 

[happyearthhomes]

I built a 200 gallon outdoor shower using a 200 gallon metal water tank 40 feet of 2x4s in 48inch sections, 1 3/4inch sheet of plywood, 1 flex hose shower head, 8ft of potable water hose, 1 release valve, 1 shurflo 12v waterpump to fill the tank from a portable 300 gallon tank and to pressurize the shower head we also have but don't use a propane water heater from an rv. For recycling the water I poured a 3inch thick 4ft square concrete slab and graded it into a drain that flows into a five gallon bucket that we than use to water non edible plants going to try and take some pictures of our setup to post

 

[laughingisharder]

Spacebag with holes in it.

 

[bikegeek666]

if you want to go more simply this looks like a good idea. if it were me, since i wouldn't be showering that often anyway, i might catch rain in a 55gal drum and just heat up water in small batches like this. i'd probably even take less showers if i were burning juniper or lavender or mesquite or the like and taking smoke baths. anyhow, for just one shower at a time, this seems like a really good method:
http://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/low-tech-solar-shower-developing-world.html